A food memory has been playing around the edges of my mind these past few weeks. It’s my brother and me as young children, stumbling into the kitchen on school mornings, seeing my mother standing at the stove preparing this egg and apple dish. I can still see how precisely she cut the apple wedges into the thinnest slices, dropping them into foamy butter in the pan. The way the frying apples perfumed the kitchen with their sweet aroma. Then the sound of the beaten eggs sliding into the pan, and adding their eggy notes to the fragrance dancing in the kitchen. I can still feel the anticipation as she slid the plates in front of us, then the first surprising bite, where the sweetness of the apple was a perfect contrast to the richness of the egg, waking up the palate and welcoming us to another day.
This is a dish that my mother used to enjoy as a child in Belgium. I’ve been thinking more about my heritage lately, and the idea of exploring some of the dishes special to it. My mother was only 14 when her family came to Canada, and by the time I was growing up she was quite assimilated. Still, her style of cooking and especially some of the dishes she made were decidedly European and, more specifically, Flemish in nature. I’d like to make sure that I capture those techniques and recipes, and share them with my own family.
This morning I decided to make this egg and apple dish for breakfast, and the Culinary Enthusiast’s reaction to the first bite was a “wow!” of surprise. This is the alchemy of cooking: a simple dish with only two main ingredients can result in something greater than the sum of its parts, packed with flavour yet delicate.
My brother and I always added a sprinkling of brown sugar to our eggs and apples. I suppose, as kids, we added sugar to just about anything we could get away with, but it enhanced the sweetness of the dish and, although I didn’t think this way at the time, also added another textural note.
For some reason that I don’t fathom, I never made this dish for my kids when they were growing up. Maybe I thought they wouldn’t like it, or perhaps somewhere along the way the memory was lost. But now it’s back, and I don’t think it will be lost again.
Fried Eggs and Apples
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 apple
- 1 – 2 tsp butter
- pepper and salt
- brown sugar
Slice the half apple into 4 wedges. Peel them and cut crosswise into thin slices. Heat the butter in a sauté pan until foamy, then add the apples, stirring occasionally until they just start to caramelize. Add a couple of grindings of fresh pepper to the apples, then pour the beaten eggs over. Cook over medium low heat, lifting the edges to let the uncooked egg run underneath. When most of the egg is cooked, gently loosen and flip, cooking just until done.
Cut into wedges and serve with a garnish of sprinkled brown sugar and a bit of salt to taste.
Thanks Marlene ! Brings back memories of the distant? past. Will make this soon.
Thanks for the recipe.
Simone
So glad this post rekindled some memories for you, too, Auntie! Marlene
I would never have thought of apples and eggs but I bet it is good. Having our apple orchard, you know I will be trying this sometime in the future.
I know what you mean … not the first combination that comes to mind, but it’s surprisingly good!
What a delightful recipe idea…and just in time for breakfast too. I’m going to try this straight away. I love omelet’s and I love apples. Can’t wait to taste them together! Thanks Mar!
The beauty of a 3-hour time difference is that I can blog about my breakfast in time for you to prepare yours! I do hope you’ll enjoy this. I suppose I could have called this an apple omelette, but, truth to tell, we always called it fried eggs with apple. Apple Omelette sounds so elegant though!
Thanks sweetie, a nice surprise for breakfast.
Brent
I tried it and I liked it! It’s a nice substitute for those fattening pancakes and syrup, when you feel like having something sweetish but healthy. It’s definitely on my breakfast menu from now on. You haven’t named it yet!
So glad you enjoyed it! I’ll have to come up with a catchy name for this dish.
This is not anything I had as a child but it sounds wonderful! I’m just an apple away from trying this for breakfast and that will be remedied the next time I’m at the grocery. Thanks for sharing a bit of your past in this great recipe.
Thank you, I hope you enjoy this for breakfast! Your blog has inspired me to give more thought to my own cooking heritage. Cheers, Mar
I wish I liked cooked apples…it sounds like it would be very yummy. I bet Matthew would really enjoy it!
I really like the posts you make when you talk about how Metje used to cook for you and your memories I dunno why but they always make me smile 🙂
[…] of angel food cakes. We ate our eggs scrambled, over easy, in fried egg sandwiches, and sometimes fried with apples (oh, the nostalgia), but they never arrived at the table baked in ramekins with little bits of this […]
[…] and a half years ago I wrote a post called “Breakfast Down Memory Lane,” about a dish from my mother’s childhood in Belgium that she used to make for us: […]
[…] Fried Eggs and Apples […]
[…] […]
[…] of angel food cakes. We ate our eggs scrambled, over easy, in fried egg sandwiches, and sometimes fried with apples (oh, the nostalgia). But they never arrived at the table baked in ramekins with little bits of this […]
[…] Belgian-style green beans are always welcome at our family dinners. And this breakfast of fried eggs and apples is such a trip down memory lane for me — I may make it for breakfast […]